Schlicht letter: Simpson

What a disappointment to see Mike Simpson’s reaction to the failure of the recent health care bill. He and his party have had seven years to fix the problems of the ACA, and the best plan they could come up with created huge tax cuts for the wealthy and reduced health care coverage. The Republicans now have all the power in Congress. Simpson apparently advocates the total abdication of that power and its attendant responsibilities, stating, “I don’t see us coming back to the health care issue,” and making a comment about how “legislating is never a pretty process.” No kidding. So get to work on it. Find some common ground with Democrats. No one suggests that the current bill is without flaws. The job of Congress is to fix them and offer the American public a workable form of health care, not to act like petulant children and say, “oh well, we tried.” We are the wealthiest country in the world, but we can’t seem to find a way to provide health care. The Republicans cannot turn their backs on this — they have a job to do. I would like to see Simpson step up and acknowledge this.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Schlicht letter: Simpson."